“I came up short tonight. I don’t know. Tonight was kind of a do-or-die moment for my career. I was all in. If I got that strap I was going to keep fighting. If I didn’t, like I didn’t, I have to see if I can continue to do this.”
Carlos Condit’s lugubrious speech following his last defeat, a razor-close decision loss to reigning welterweight champion Robbie Lawler, had many believing that his final fight had been fought.
A veteran of 14 years and almost 40 professional fights, Condit sounded like he had become disillusioned with the fight game after his second failed attempt at claiming the undisputed UFC welterweight title.
Carlos Condit considers retirement after dropping split decision to Robbie Lawler #UFC195 https://t.co/GrsAtTVMSU pic.twitter.com/1Uwv8QtMnj
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) January 3, 2016
His stance was clear on January 2. It was an immediate rematch with Lawler, or retirement. Those seemed to be the options.
But, with the upper echelons of the 170 lbs division as stacked as ever before, a third option entered the equation.
It emerged on Tuesday evening that Condit had been pitted against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert (if expert is not too small a term) Demian Maia.
Maia, the owner of a five-fight win streak at welterweight, most recently submitted Matt Brown at UFC 198 and he too claimed that it was title shot or bust for him.
So the UFC did the only logical thing and paired them off with one another.
Condit vs. Maia is the latest fight added to a quickly strengthening UFC 202 fight card.
BREAKING: @CarlosCondit returns at #UFC202, will face @DemianMaia 🔥 🔥 🔥 ➡️ https://t.co/n8nFsVK9wR pic.twitter.com/varUuXjj0A
— UFC (@ufc) June 28, 2016
Earlier on Tuesday, we received news that the unofficial UFC light heavyweight title eliminator between Anthony Johnson and Glover Teixeira would act as co-headliner for McGregor vs. Diaz II.
Taking shape https://t.co/XvrTsWimMB
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 28, 2016
Added to that, the announcement came that Donald Cerrone would meet Rick Story on the main card.
Everyone’s talking about UFC 200 but this 202 event is gathering momentum rapidly.
